FAQ - What's the deal about backing up files?

Correctly saving your data increases your productivity and allows for easier backup and recovery if there is a problem. When you login to the network you have a personal "Home Directory". Your "Home Directory" (we shorten this to H:Drive) is a folder that follows you wherever you login to the network within your school, so that you can access your files from anywhere in the school.Your H:Drive is named to match your Username, for instance if your Username is "first.last" then your "Home Directory" will be "first.last". The "My Documents" folder on your computer also points to your "Home Directory" This will ensure that all of your work is in one convenient place and is automatically backed up.

Why should I save on the H:Drive/network?

Any information stored in your Network drive is backed up on a regular basis and can likely be recovered in an emergency situation. If you have computer problems, or any maintenance is done to your computer by the Technology staff, information located in the "My Documents" folder/H:Drive is already on the network, so the data is safe. Information located other places on the computer, such as the C:Drive - (outside of the "My Documents"/H:Drive folder) will not be backed up and in all likelihood will be lost if you have a problem with your computer.

What is the "old school" way to create a personal backup?

Burning a CD-Rom disk in your computer lab or media center creates a permanent back up of your files. You may want to do this a couple of times during the year or at the end of each quarter. At a minimum , you should take the time to create a disk prior to the summer and take it home for safe keeping. For assistance with this process please speak with the technology specialist at your school.

What about using a flash drive to create a personal backup?
Using a flash drive as a back up will work but eventually the flash drive will wear out and fail. If you have something critical, such as a doctoral thesis, you will want to save it and back it up twice. If it's that important it's important enough to have multiple copies.

Can I use cloud storage as a backup?
Absolutely. Since KCS uses Google for Education, you have unlimited storage space in your Google Drive. This is an excellent place to backup files that you may wish to access from different locations.